When Anna's husband, Bill, died of cancer last year, she faced losing her home and had to deal with more than £100,000 of debt built up during his illness.

Bill had had to stop work when he was diagnosed with cancer and the couple, who had not done any financial planning beforehand, had only minimal life assurance to cover their mortgage.

Their main assets were their home and Bill's personal pension funds. To cover their expenses during his treatment, Bill had taken the maximum tax-free cash from his pension funds, borrowed through their existing mortgage and converted it to an interest-only loan. They approached independent financial adviser Informed Choice to help to sort out their finances.

"We focused planning on the worst-case scenario - that Anna could be widowed," says Martin Bamford, managing director of Informed Choice. "Bill died suddenly a few months later, so the early steps we were able to put in place - such as reorganising the pension plans to provide a larger fund and income to Anna in the event of Bill's death - were crucial."

Anna still had to sell the family home to repay their debts and reduce her monthly expenditure. Informed Choice also helped her plan ahead to her own retirement, which she would have to fund once she stopped working.

Anna says: "It is scary to think how much debt and financial difficulty we created for ourselves due to our lack of planning. While the financial damage could be repaired, it is easy to see how it might have led to my bankruptcy had our circumstances been slightly different."

Tomorrow sees the start of Financial Planning Week, organised by the Institute of Financial Planning, whose members - certified financial planners - are trained to consider a client's finances from a holistic point of view, helping to work out what they want from life and how to achieve it.

Although only one in five people are happy with their finances, according to research by YouGov for the IFP and National Savings & Investments, more than one in four relied on winning the lottery to improve their financial situation - despite a one in 14 million chance of hitting the jackpot.

The Observer and Guardian website (guardian.co.uk/money) will also run a clinic on Tuesday at noon, enabling readers to ask Martin Bamford and fellow certified financial planner Keri Carter of Broadway Financial Planning for free advice online.